Electrode lines or leads, which for example are inserted into blood vessels or through blood vessels into a chamber of a heart, are basically known. Such electrode lines generally carry electrodes which serve to deliver electrical pulses to body tissue surrounding the electrode line or lead, or to receive electrical signals from the body tissue. For example, stimulation electrodes for cardiac pacemakers are known.
It is also known for electrode lines to be deformed two-dimensionally, for example in a coil form, so that the outer arcs of the electrode line formed as a coil bear against the walls of a vessel and thus provide the electrode line with a hold in the vessel, as is shown for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,374,527, 5,922,014 and 5,925,073. An electrode line which is three-dimensionally deformed in such a way that it provides a hold for the line in the atrium of a heart is known for example from U.S. Pat. No. 5,995,876. In that case the electrode line is shaped in such a way that electrodes bear against the myocardium in the region of the atrium.
In addition, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,387,233 and 6,129,750 disclose electrode lines which are wound in a helical configuration and which are adapted for insertion into a blood vessel, more specifically into the coronary sinus, and bear with the turns of the helix against the vessel walls of the coronary sinus.
The present invention primarily relates to intravascular electrode lines, that is to say electrode lines for elongate blood vessels such as arteries or veins. In contrast to for example heart chambers with their bulging recess configurations which provide a hold for a line, the task involved in providing a hold for electrode lines in elongate blood vessels is a different one. The walls of the blood vessels should as far as possible not be damaged, and in addition the blood vessel should still remain capable of passing blood and not blocked by the electrode line.
Taking the above-depicted state of the art as its starting point, the object of the invention is to provide an intravascular electrode line of an alternative configuration affording a hold therefor.